Lucky You
by BriceSquared
Summary: Some people crave power. Others just get taken along for the ride.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own Lucy Bridgewater, AKA Taser, AKA Taze. The other writer of this series owns Jinx, who is not in this chapter but hey, trust me, you'll know her when you see her. In fact, there are probably going to be quite a few original characters. Everyone else we obviously don't own. Including the song in this chapter; "Hello," by Oasis (which I own only on CD)._

_---_

_We live in the shadows, and we had the chance and blew it away..._

"Lucy!"

_And it's never gonna be the same..._

"BRIDGEWATER!"

Embarrassed by failing to notice the manager was right next to her, Taze yanked off her headphones, hoping fruitlessly to stash them under her shirt before he saw them. It didn't work. The manager glanced coldly at the headphone-shaped bulge in the fabric before continuing. "So. I guess there's no point in asking you if you saw the girl, since you were too busy having your little party over here."

"It helps me focus," Taze insisted. She quickly turned back to the cans of creamed corn beside her and began shoving them, one by one, atop the metal shelf in front of her. Just like she was getting paid minimum wage to do. Like a good girl.

The manager's hand shot out, snatching a can from her in mid-stack. "It's against store policy," he told her firmly, looking utterly disgusted. "Damn it, didn't we go out on enough of a limb just hiring you in the first place?"

Her gaze dropped to the battered linoleum floor. Taze's eyes, too bright a blue to be found on a human's face, made her an easy mark for people like this. Every other shelf-stocker in this grocery store made twice what she did, they didn't have to worry about being fired on a whim, and they didn't have to worry about being turned away by other prospective employers before they even began their job interviews. The manager was right. She'd been insanely lucky to...

"...probably one of your friends, wasn't she?" The manager sneered.

Taze's stomach churned. He was enjoying this far too much for this just to be another of his "your kind doesn't belong here" sessions.

"Guess you didn't see her little display in the produce section," he drawled, waiting for her to try making a comment. "We caught her trying to slip a package of blueberries in her pocket, and next thing we know, her hair's standing on end, her eyes are grey instead of blue..." He shoved his face in front of hers, staring straight into her own electric blue irises. "...and we can't get to her 'cause we're tripping all over ourselves. Poor Jimmy even had the entire section of berries come toppling down on his head."

Taze bit her lip, forcing herself to stare back. "It's not my fault. It's not like we're the only two..." She hesitated, then added the word in a barely intelligible whisper. "..._mutants_ in the world. For all we know, Magneto's back in the States and he sent her down here to replenish his snack supply."

"Yeah, and who knows what you're doing here instead of with _them_, _mutant_!" Unlike Taze, the manager practically shouted the word. "Look, I don't need this kind of hassle. It's time for you to get out of here, freak. For good."

Taze opened her mouth to argue, but gave up on the idea immediately. For one thing, it was futile; the man hated her. More importantly, she was going to start crying if she tried to talk. Pressing her lips together, she pulled her headphones back on. The song picked up where she'd left it as she marched toward the door.

_'Cause the years are falling by like the rain..._

On impulse, she paused by the pile of fallen fruit. Feeling slightly guilty but too vengeful to care, she stuck a package of blueberries in her pocket before walking out.

_...'til the life i knew comes to my house and says hello._


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry this took so long to post. I could blame school… but really, hating to type things up was a big part of it. And if you think I had entirely too much fun writing about what Jinx does with the blueberries… also guilty. But I think Jinx is corrupting me. Evil. EVIL JINX! (And as long as I'm just up here shouting at people I'd like to thank Mnesomne's Tears for reviewing!)

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_Whap!_

"GrAAAck!" the swan cried desperately as the fast-flying blueberry bounced off its beak.

"Aw, I missed." Jinx pushed a lock of black hair out of her eyes before leaning over the railing to line up her next shot.

"Aaa_aaa_wwk! Grak! GRAK!"

"Nice! Right in the eye…"

"What are you doing that for?" Damn! Jinx had been so busy laughing at the wounded swan's antics, watching him flail around screaming and frightening every other bird out of the vicinity of Wynn Park, she hadn't noticed the angry girl approach her.

"I don't know." Jinx turned around to see a young redhead, perhaps not even Jinx's age, staring at her expectantly with… well, what could Jinx say about the girl's eyes, really? They were the color of a freaking neon sign. Miss Pissed… no, wait, _Lucy_, Jinx corrected herself as she noticed the girl's FreshMart name tag… was clearly a mutant. But judging from the fact that she couldn't even make eye contact with Jinx for five seconds straight, Jinx seriously doubted she had anything to fear. "Because I can?" she finished with a grin.

Taze's vivid eyes narrowed. "You got us both in trouble for stealing those stupid blueberries. The least you could do is… I don't know. Need them." A few of the victims of Jinx's blueberry rampage were hesitantly circling the pond, wondering if it was safe to land. "For something other than trying to provoke PETA."

"They're _my _blueberries," Jinx answered dismissively. "Last time I checked, that means you can't tell me what to do with them." Defiantly, she flung a blueberry at Taze, who ducked.

"You didn't buy them! Last time _I _checked, that means they aren't actually yours."

"It's a free country. Anyway, the laws are meant to be broken." Jinx lifted the box of blueberries over her head, then hurled it at a couple of adventurous but unlucky swans swimming side by side. One flew away, loudly bemoaning the indignity; the other, having been pushed out of the way by her companion's thrashing wing, just swam around in circles looking sulky. "The name's Jinx, if you were about to ask. Spread it around. I could use the rep."

"Great," Taze muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "First mutant I meet, and she's an anarchist looking for street cred."

"Yeah? And you're a prude. Not a great image for a mutant."

"Yeah. Keeps me from getting locked up, or shot in the head. Obviously, dead or on the way to it is a much better image for a mutant." Disgusted, Taze turned to leave.

"Stop right there." At Jinx's words, Taze's ankle gave way. Yelping in surprise and pain, the girl went toppling over the railing surrounding the pond.

Nobody noticed Taze hit the water. They were busy gaping at the electricity arcing from her body, charging the water, electrocuting the swans that had attempted to reclaim the pond after the fruity carnage.

"Oops," Taze muttered morosely as the onlookers ran from the pond, screaming for help.

"Nice." Jinx sounded faintly awed as she leaned over the railing to poke at one of the feathered corpses. "Hey," she called out to Taze, "wanna be friends? We could rule the world."

Taze made a face as she pushed one of the floating swans away. "When we rule the world, will I be able to send our army after you?"

"Do you usually try to kill the people you work with?"

"No, but you're special."

"You're special-ed."

"Ooh, didn't see that one coming," Taze commented sarcastically as she none-too-gracefully pushed herself over the railing, dripping pond water everywhere. "You know, that's exactly why I'd be sending a few hundred angry men with rifles after you."

"All right, I'm sorry. Nice powers, though…"

"SHE did it!" A high-pitched voice wailed. The two mutants turned to see a wide-eyed boy, who looked about six years old, hopping up and down and pointing at Taze. In most situations, it would have been annoying, but the indignant-looking policeman standing next to him made the boy's screeching less irritating and more dangerous.

"Uh… what do you usually do in this situation?" Taze whispered.

"Do you really need to ask?"

By the time the cop yelled "Stop right there and put your hands on the ground," they were already running through the crowd.


	3. Chapter 3

Yes, it's another short chapter… probably shorter than what I originally wrote, because my pain-in-the-butt notebook won't show its face, so I had to rewrite. But hey, there's a whole new group of people in this chapter, not to mention the start of something that actually has to do with the synopsis, so enjoy!

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"After that, all hell broke loose." Heaven winced. Stupid turn of phrase, considering she'd been called Satan by almost everyone she met. What, was she supposed to file down her horns? Cut off her tail, the wings she couldn't even fly with? Satisfy someone who'd be gone or dead within moments, depending on her instructions? But she doubted her boss had noticed her slip of the tongue, and she didn't intend to interrupt her report to correct herself. "Cops everywhere, trying to keep all the witnesses in the park and get a straight story out of them. Lucky I was able to slip out."

"I wouldn't call the fact that you lost her 'lucky,' Heaven."

"I didn't lose her!" Heaven's tail lashed out angrily, knocking the hotel-provided fruit basket across the room. Embarrassed at her loss of temper, Heaven did her best to steer the conversation back to business. "I mean, we're still keeping tabs on her. Raven and Newton are listening to the police scanner in the other room. If she ends up in jail, it won't be difficult to get her out, particularly if you're not going to insist on a low body count. If she gets away, we'll know where to start picking up her trail again. Besides," she added hastily, "you know she's going to agree. You heard how happy she was with the other girl's show of power. Imagine how she'll react when you tell her…"

"I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't plan on telling her anything unless she proves completely trustworthy. Just bring in the girl, undamaged. I'll figure out how she fits into the plans."

Heaven tapped a cigarette out of the package she'd left on the bathroom counter and stared at it idly until it was lit. "That was the plan."

"No, the plan was for you to do it in Las Vegas, while she was still trying to decide what she should do. Do you need me to send backup?"

"You don't mean…"

"She needs the field experience."

"And she's useless! If I asked her to kill someone, she'd spend half an hour trying to talk me out of it. She'd cry as she did it. And she'd throw up afterward."

"She's powerful. I expect her to appreciate that properly one day."

Sure. One day. But in the meantime, Heaven would have sooner stabbed out her own eyes than spent one minute more than she had to with the girl. Titan's adopted daughter would never know how humans really acted, would never have the necessary motivation to what had to be done… but Heaven wasn't foolish enough to tell him that. "What do you want us to do with the other one?"

"Bring her in, if you can. She's no Jinx. But she could be of use. And Heaven?"

"Yes?"

"If you're going to question my word, you'd better leave. I'm sure there are other organizations that would have you. Think of the honor, being arrested alongside a failure like Magneto."

Heaven wasn't entirely sure if he'd hung up. But she'd accidentally melted the handset, so the conversation was over. With a frustrated snarl, she slammed it back down. "You owe him," she reminded herself through clenched teeth. "Gave you a chance. Kept you out of jail. You were insanely lucky to…"

"Heaven? Are you all right?"

"It doesn't matter," she answered Raven genially.


End file.
